


Shadows

by just_a_state_of_mind



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-10
Updated: 2013-09-10
Packaged: 2017-12-26 05:54:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/962390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/just_a_state_of_mind/pseuds/just_a_state_of_mind
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jim doesn't like sickbay. Leonard doesn't really blame him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shadows

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to write some McKirk so here it is!

The medical bay of Enterprise is an eerie place in its quietness. The hushed silence, pierced only with an occasional beep from one of the many monitors, coupled with the sterile white walls and the tang of disinfectant never fails to bring to mind various horror films where untold terrors become realities in the muffled quiet.

Most people think Jim Kirk avoids medical because of the negative impact it has on his 'manly as fuck' persona (his words, not mine) but in truth it's because Jim is one of those unlucky people plagued with the curse of an over-active imagination. Years of staying up into the early hours of the morning watching and re-watching horror films from any century he could get his hands on had left their toll and with it an unease of small dark places and hospitals. Luckily for Jim, space is a big dark place, allowing him to operate his missions with next to no panic attacks. Unfortunately, the inevitable injuries he endures from the more problematic of his excursions indefinitely end him up in medical and it is here, that Jim's problems begin and McCoy starts to feel a migraine coming on.

"Can I go now?"

"No."

"Aww c'mon, Bones. Why not?"

Leonard turned to where his captain was lying pale and drained on a biobed. A tired grin was plastered across his face in an obvious and doomed attempt to make it look like he was well enough to get out of medical and back to doing whatever captainy thing it is that captains do whenever they're not getting shot at. Leonard wasn't fooled.

"You were shot five times, broke 3 ribs and got a stupid amount of shrapnel embedded in your side. I worked for three hours in surgery to get it all out and to close a puncture in your artery and you have been hopped up on enough painkillers to make you think Spock was your mother so no. You can't go."

Jim pouted and folded his arms across his chest. He winced at the contact against his newly grown skin and still sore ribs. Leonard gave him a pointed look.

"I'm keeping you in for a couple of days. You need to rest and I know that if you're  
not here you'll be working so for now you're staying put."

"Fine."

"Thank you."

Jim lay back on the bed, trying to relax as much as he could. Bones came up beside him, hypospray in hand.

"Sedative," he said in explanation, "You need sleep."

He pressed it against Jim's neck and released the drug with a hiss. Jim closed his eyes and waited for the drug to take hold, proof to Leonard of how tired he really was. He soon slid under into silky darkness and slept without dreaming.  
When he woke hours later the medical bay was dark. The monitor next to him beeped quietly in time with his heartbeat and he could hear the low humming of machinery. The dimmed lights threw dark shadows up the walls and tiny LEDs blinked on and off in dark corners. To Jim's drug addled mind, the whole situation was rather terrifying, his brain twisting shadows into contorted figures and the LEDs became staring eyes watching him where he lay.

His heartbeat began to pick up, the monitor sounding increasingly panicked as the beeps became faster and louder. He struggled upright, legs tangling in the sheets, a strangled cry on his lips as he felt the shadows move in, cruel hands clutching at him, yellow and red eyes blinking at him.

He didn't register the sound of running footsteps until the lights flickered on and he  
was suddenly in the warm embrace of Doctor McCoy. He wrapped his arms as tightly as he could around the Doctor's waist, hands clutching and twisting into the back of the soft material of the Starfleet issued pyjama top. He pressed his face into the side of Leonard's neck and breathed in his scent, calming himself. Leonard's hands slid up and down his back, comforting as they went and he pressed soft kisses into Jim's hair. He didn't say anything out loud but Jim knew with each kiss he was saying 'I'm here. I've got you. It's going to be okay.'

He eventually stopped shaking and his breathing evened out. He pulled away slightly and Leonard let him, still keeping a protective arm around him.

"Thanks," Jim murmured.

"Don't mention it," Leonard whispered back.

"Don't go."

"I won't. Do you want me to put you under?"

Jim nodded silently. Leonard picked up a hypospray from the tray beside the table and gently injected it into Jim's neck. He then got up next to Jim and turned them so Jim was curled up into him and his arms were wrapped around Jim's waist. With his last shreds of consciousness, Jim hooked his ankle around Bones' and pulled his leg so they were tangled up together.

"It was the shadows, Bones," he mumbled, sleep taking him. Leonard just shushed him and listened as his breathing evened out and he relaxed into Bones' arms. He dimmed the lights to 10%, noting how the shadows cast on the walls did look pretty sinister. In the half dark it was easy to see why Jim hated staying in medical so much.

He closed his eyes and buried his face in Jim's hair, enjoying his warmth that he worked so hard to save. He loved the kid, he really did, but he was so goddamn reckless that it was a wonder that he still had all his limbs attached. 

“You're an idiot,” he grumbled, sleep pulling at him with velvety fingers. 

 

“I love you.”


End file.
